LeBron, Allen lead East past West

Published 4:00 am, Monday, February 18, 2008

Outdunking, outpassing and outperforming their more trumpeted counterparts from the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference All-Stars pulled out a 134-128 win Sunday night.

Ray Allen scored 28 points, making three straight three-pointers in the final 3:15, and James added 27, including a did-he-really-do-that? dunk in the last minute to propel the East and earn MVP honors.

Last year, the West humiliated the East in a 153-132 rout in Las Vegas when Kobe Bryant and Co. rewrote the event's record books. However, this time, led by Allen's 14 fourth-quarter points and James, the East salvaged some pride.

"They beat up on us pretty bad last year," James said. "We didn't want to allow that to happen. We wanted to win."

James, who added nine assists and eight rebounds, was MVP for the second time in three years. He also won the honor in 2006, when the East beat the West in Houston.

Amare Stoudemire, Brandon Roy and Carmelo Anthony scored 18 points apiece to lead the West, which trailed by 13 entering the fourth quarter before rallying behind New Orleans' Chris Paul. The guard's seventh assist of the final period set up Roy's layup to give the West a 122-119 lead.

Boston's Allen, the final player added to either roster, knocked down his second three-pointer in 48 seconds to tie it before Paul answered with a three, sending the hometown crowd into a frenzy.

Allen finally missed and James poked away the ball, and then came up with the night's most stirring moment.

Slashing through the lane, James rose and dunked over several West defenders, much like he did in Game 5 of last year's Eastern Conference finals against Detroit when he scored the Cavaliers' final 25 points

"We had two people on him," Paul said, "but that still wasn't enough."

Paul was called for an offensive foul on the West's next trip. Dwyane Wade hit a layup and Allen scored to make it 131-125. Roy's three-pointer with 8.7 seconds cut the West's deficit to three, but Allen made three free throws to close it out the game.

The weekend in New Orleans was about much more than spectacular dunks, a game featuring marginal defense or collecting strings of beads while strolling down boozy Bourbon Street. The NBA came to the Big Easy hoping to help the city continue its comeback from Hurricane Katrina, the effects of which are still felt 2 1/2 years since she blasted through the region.

On Friday, the world's biggest basketball names as well as hundreds of volunteers fanned out to all sides of the city to help refurbish playgrounds, paint houses and lend a hand with whatever they could on a day devoted to community service.

"I think we all know what happened, the devastation down here and to bring the NBA All-Star game here, I think it really uplifted the families down here," James said. "We had a great time."